Where do potholes come from?

Potholes start in cold temperatures when groundwater freezes and expands. Once the ground thaws out, it returns to a normal level. But, pavement pushed up during the ground freeze remains raised. This causes a gap between the pavement and the ground. Vehicles riding over these gaps cause the road surface to crack and fall into that hollow space.

How do I report a pothole?

The City welcomes reports from drivers about roadways in need of repair. Providing us with the exact location (for example, outside southbound lane on 148 Avenue NE just north of NE 70 Street) will help speed response time.

Pavement Management

Maintaining Redmond’s streets helps ensure that the investments made into our roadway infrastructure are preserved. A Pavement Condition Index (PCI) rating of at least 70 or better for all streets combined is an indicator of good roadway maintenance. While Redmond is currently at a 75 (a preferred level of service), the rating has been declining steadily since about 2003 as infrastructure built in past decades ages. By 2019, the rating level is expected to drop below 70 unless additional investments into pavement maintenance are made.

The primary reason for the decline is the high cost and frequent maintenance needed for Redmond’s arterial streets. There are 219 lanes miles of arterial streets and 128 lane miles of local streets (each local street has two lanes and arterial streets have multiple lanes.) Compared to either Bellevue or Kirkland, Redmond spends considerably less per lane mile of arterial than either of those jurisdictions, despite having a disproportionately higher number of arterial streets. This is an important distinction for Redmond since the cost to fully maintain an arterial lane mile is about three times as expensive as a local street lane mile.